Fantasy Basketball 2021: Daily Fantasy Advice for Clippers vs. Suns

The Phoenix Suns can close out the Western Conference Finals on Monday with a Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker and Chris Paul have all been massive for the Suns throughout the series, and they are all expected to put in solid performances Monday.

If you believe the Suns will move on to the NBA Finals, their three star players could be worth a lineup stack in FanDuel's single-game contest.

Ayton, Paul and Booker all carry salaries of $13,000 or higher, but a stack would not price you out of some key role players around the $9,000 mark.

Paul George is always worth the DFS play, but if you start him, you have to choose between two of the Phoenix stars to have enough salary left to build a roster of players who receive enough minutes to chip in a minimum of 15-20 FanDuel points.

Ayton has to be involved in your lineup build no matter what strategy you employ.

The Suns center averaged 20.3 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in the first four contests against the Clippers. Ayton recorded 30 or more FanDuel points in each of those contests, and he is coming off a 61.9-point performance in Game 4.

Ayton's salary was adjusted to $14,000 for Game 5, but he is still worth the play because of how much he affects the game on both sides of the court.

If you go with a Suns stack of Ayton, Paul and Booker, you will have $18,500 left in salary. That would allow you to add Jae Crowder ($9,500) and Patrick Beverley ($9,000) as the best remaining value options.

Cameron Payne ($8,000), Cameron Johnson ($7,500) and Marcus Morris ($8,000) are the other viable candidates for the fourth and fifth roster positions.

You could also partner Ayton with George and then go after the second-tier contributors in the series such as Reggie Jackson ($12,500), Ivica Zubac ($12,000) and Mikal Bridges ($11,000).

Since Ayton has been so massive in the Western Conference Finals, you have to place him somewhere in the DFS lineup. Once you do that, you can figure out whether a team stack works best around him or you could just mix and match the best players available.

The big men on both rosters have been critical throughout the Western Conference Finals.

Ivica Zubac has taken well to his role within the starting five, averaging 12.8 points and 11 rebounds per contest.

The Clippers center recorded more than 30 FanDuel points in Games 3 and 4, and he has a chance to replicate those performances, even with Ayton lurking down low.

Zubac carries the sixth-highest salary on the FanDuel slate, so he should be a manageable piece alongside Ayton or combined with George and Jackson in a Clippers stack.

The logic behind a Clippers lineup stack is they have to perform at their best to fight off elimination, and it will be a bit of a contrarian play since a good amount of players will be on the Suns at home.

A potential George-Jackson-Zubac stack gives you $20,500 in salary left to work with. You could take a risk on Bridges and Crowder to have strong three-point shooting performances to combine with them or you could add one Suns role player along with Beverley, Morris or Terance Mann.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from Basketball Reference.

Eligibility restrictions apply. See fanduel.com for details.